The Internet comprises a vast number of computers and computer networks that are interconnected through communication links. The interconnected computers exchange information using various services, such as electronic mail, Gopher, and the World Wide Web (“WWW”). The WWW service allows a server computer system (i.e., Web server or Web site) to send graphical Web pages of information to a remote purchaser computer system. The remote purchaser computer system can then display the Web pages. Each resource (e.g., computer or Web page) of the WWW is uniquely identifiable by a Uniform Resource Locator (“URL”). To view a specific Web page, a purchaser computer system specifies the URL for that Web page in a request (e.g., a HyperText Transfer Protocol (“HTTP”) request). The request is forwarded to the Web server that supports that Web page. When the Web server receives the request, it sends that Web page to the purchaser computer system. When the purchaser computer system receives that Web page, it typically displays the Web page using a browser. A browser is a special-purpose application program that effects the requesting of Web pages and the displaying of Web pages.
Currently, Web pages are typically defined using HyperText Markup Language (“HTML”). HTML provides a standard set of tags that define how a Web page is to be displayed. When a user indicates to the browser to display a Web page, the browser sends a request to the server computer system to transfer to the purchaser computer system an HTML document that defines the Web page. When the requested HTML document is received by the purchaser computer system, the browser displays the Web page as defined by the HTML document. The HTML document contains various tags that control the displaying of text, graphics, controls, and other features. The HTML document may contain URLs of other Web pages available on that server computer system or other server computer systems.
The World Wide Web is especially conducive to conducting electronic commerce. Web Servers have been programmed to permit vendors to provide a wide array of products and services for sale over the Internet. A user, who is a potential purchaser, may browse one or more web sites, which provide lists of products or services for sale, much like a catalogue. A purchaser may preview these lists to select a desired product or services to be purchased. When the user has completed selecting the items to be purchased, the server computer system then prompts the user to enter information to complete the ordering of the selected items. This purchase generally deals with how and where the selected items may be delivered to the purchaser and how the purchaser will pay for the selected items.
There are dozens of different buyer-seller protocols in use today. However, almost all of those systems are seller-driven in the sense that they focus on the methods and processes available to the seller, allowing him/her to price, package or configure goods and services more effectively. Stores, catalogs, classified advertisements, telemarketing, offering for sale houses, even on-line computerized reservation systems such as SABRE, are all seller-driven. Traditionally, it is the seller's job to attract buyers and then to complete the sale. Thus, in a seller-driven system, the advertising cost of the transaction and the attendant risks that such advertising will be unsuccessful falls upon the seller.
Most goods and services purchased at retail are done so using a general seller-driven protocol whereby the seller sets a price and the buyer decides whether or not to accept that price. Prices for some services, such as airline tickets, might change frequently, but the buyer must still wait for the seller to offer a price he finds acceptable. Obviously, some forms of commerce offer far more give and take with offers and counteroffers being exchanged, however the vast majority of retail purchases utilize seller-driven, fixed-price, non-negotiable pricing protocols.
Auctions are probably the most frequently used system whereby prices are not fixed by the seller. Here too, the system is seller-driven. The buyer does not find the seller, rather the seller attracts numerous buyers who, as a group, determine the final selling price—which the seller may subsequently reject unless the item offered for sale is being purchased without a reserve.
Even on-line reservation systems are seller-driven. Airline reservation systems such as SABRE are in the business of constantly posting airfares. Travel agents and consumers are on the order for side of the process. However, since they cannot communicate their orders to the airlines, they must wait until an “asked” fare is quoted which meets their needs.
Other commerce systems are exchange-driven. These systems, such as NASDAQ or the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), match buyers and sellers by offering an efficient, fair and orderly marketplace. They favor neither buyers nor sellers, but simply effectuate communications that allow for the matching process to take place. An example of an automated exchange-driven commerce system for trading futures is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,903,201.
The protocol adopted by this invention resembles that of an initial public offering (IPO), wherein a lot of securities are offered at a fixed price during a window of offering for sale. In this window, purchasers place orders for a given number shares of the offered security. In the stock market, an investor believing that a particular security will appreciate, may order a lot of the offered security, perhaps 1,000 or 10,000 share. If the judgement of the investor was correct and the stock appreciates, then the investor would realize a significant financial gain. Often due to the demand for the security, a purchaser is not allocated the requested number of securities. Rather, the broker, in an attempt to satisfy as many of his/her clients as possible, reduces the number of stocks and allocates them in accordance with the well-known algorithm, i.e., rewarding his/her best clients with the most shares. After the initial offering, the broker may escrow the shares of a particular client, if the client decides not to hold the shares personally. At a later time, the client who purchased these shares will sell on a secondary market, often through his/her broker, the shares originally purchased on the primary market.
This invention contemplates that collectibles and, in particular that athlete trading cards may be treated in a similar way. For example, if you believe that Derek Jeter will become the best shortstop of all time, then the purchaser would want to obtain a number of his cards. Presently, athletic trading cards are purchased on the primary market in packs. A pack includes a number of cards, each of which is different from the others. Each pack is typically wrapped so that the purchaser can not tell what cards are in a particular pack. If the potential purchaser would seek to obtain a number of Derek Jeter cards, he/she would need to purchase a number of packs and, even then, would not be assured of finding any Derek Jeter cards. The purchaser could also go to a secondary market and start buying Derek Jeter cards. Even in the secondary market, e.g., stores or web sites that specialize in the sale of trading cards, the investor is only likely to secure one Derek Jeter card at a time. In accordance with this invention, lots of a single desired cards will be efficiently offered for sale to the purchaser.